


Don't Grow Away From Me

by thesometimeswarrior



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Angst, Canon Compliant, Episode: s05e25 Legs From Here To Homeworld, Gen, Growing Up, Hurt/Comfort, Parenthood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-16
Updated: 2018-09-16
Packaged: 2019-07-13 04:04:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,321
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16009919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thesometimeswarrior/pseuds/thesometimeswarrior
Summary: Every instinct tells her that this is another bad dream, the likes of which she has experienced before countless times in the thirteen years since becoming a parent.“Are you okay?”She sniffs, forces herself to regain her composure before she fully turns to him. “You…you allow your son to…to do things like this all the time. How?”Dr. Maheswaren and Greg reflect after their respective children leave for Homeworld.





	Don't Grow Away From Me

**Author's Note:**

> Title from the song "Growing Up" by Deb Talen. (I had a hard time picking this lyric though, because really the whole song feels appropriate! It's a great song--I recommend checking it out!)
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoy!

Every instinct tells her that this is another bad dream, the likes of which she has experienced before countless times in the thirteen years since becoming a parent. All the hallmarks are here: first and foremost, Connie plunging headlong into an unspeakably dangerous situation in such a way that it is impossible for Priyanka to protect her, disappearing off-stage like the tragic hero in one of the Ancient Greek plays she’d had to read as an undergraduate. And the element of surrealism that, until recently, she assumed existed _only_ in dreams is also present—a space ship shaped like florescent pink legs in high-heels, titanic women of bright primary colors. And that’s to say nothing of those surreal elements to which she has reluctantly and gradually become accustomed since her daughter befriended Steven Universe—his _abilities_ , and his off-color space-distorting lion, and his seemingly magical extraterrestrial guardians. (If this _were_ a dream, she could have a field day analyzing these images through the lens of the psychology courses she’d elected to take in medical school, what they say about her and the contents of her mind…)

But, here, now, Doug’s hand clings to hers—real in a way it never feels in her nightmares—and he lends a sense of lucidity that convinces her she is, in fact, awake. She manages to hold herself together until after the ship takes off—or, more accurately, stumbles into the ocean and then literally _jumps_ into the atmosphere—then loses a grip on the sense of control that she has worked so hard to cultivate. Hot tears fight out of her eyes, her body shudders, and a sob finds its way through her mouth.

She just barely feels Doug place his hand on the small of her back, move it in the circular motion that he always does when this happens to her. Normally, though, that’s in their own home, in the privacy of their own bedroom. Not in public, and certainly not in front of people she scarcely knows. 

“Are you okay?” Greg Universe is suddenly next to them, and when Priyanka looks up, it is to see a look of earnest concern painting his face, but no fear—none of that gut-wrenching terror that she feels for Connie. 

She sniffs, forces herself to regain her composure before she fully turns to him. “You…you allow your son to…to do things like this all the time. How?”

“Well,” he says, gripping his neck. “I don’t really have a choice.”

“Of course you do!”

“I really don’t. Being a Gem is part of who he is, and I can’t change that, even if I want to. Which I don’t.”

“But that doesn’t mean that you have to allow him to…fight these _things_ , or go on dangerous missions, or _leave Earth_ …”

“I guess that’s true. But he’d do it anyway, and I figure it’s better that he knows I support him and that he can talk to me, than feel like he’s gotta hide things from me.”

Priyanka flushes, remembering Connie’s words that night in the hospital parking lot, how they’d dug into her like a scalpel or a sword, not because they were cruel but because they were _true_ , and harshly reflective. _It started off as a tiny secret, and then it felt like if I didn’t hide it, you wouldn’t let me see Steven ever again…_

“And I gotta be honest,” Greg continues, snapping her back to the present moment. “I don’t blame Steven for doing the things he’s doing. He grew up with stories of his mom—she was sorta involved in a lot of the stuff they’re fighting now, and I couldn’t have kept that from him. Plus, for the past five years, he’s been living with the Gems, and they—”

“That’s another thing! How could you just let him move out as a child?!”

“It wasn’t easy. But there’re things I can’t teach him. Things about himself that I know nothing about. And, as he got older, it became kinda obvious that those things were gonna be important in his life. And the Gems _could_ teach him about ‘em. About that side of himself.”

“But…aren’t you afraid you’re going to _lose_ him?”

Greg sighs. “Yeah. Especially recently. But I trust the Gems to protec—.”

“No, that’s not what I…but yes, also literally—when Connie mentioned that she was training to _swordfight_ , and then all those _things_ she was fighting…” She pauses, shakes her head seems to change course. “But what I meant was, aren’t you afraid that he’s going to…that he’s not going to _need_ you anymore? That you’re going to become totally,” Her voice cracks. “superfluous to his life?” 

“Kinda. But isn’t that sorta the point? That our kids grow up?”

“Grow up, yes, but I never thought that that would mean that they just…stop needing us.”

“Maybe they do, or maybe they just think they do. But either way, it doesn’t mean we can’t be a part of their lives.”

“ _Doesn’t_ it?”

“I don’t think so. Listen,” Greg sighs. “When I was twenty-one, I cut my parents out. But that’s because they never saw _me._ They just saw and all the ways I wasn’t who they wanted me to be, and made me feel bad about it my entire childhood. So I left. But it doesn’t have to be that way. I never want Steven to feel that way. And yeah, maybe that means I can’t always do everything for him as he gets older, but I can always be there for him. Whether that’s to talk about Gem stuff or…like eventually his mortgage or something, or just to hang out, ya know? And if that means I gotta take the backseat on some things, then okay.”

Priyanka inhales and then releases the breath slowly, before turning to Doug. “Do—do you think that’s how Connie feels about us? That we don’t _see_ her, that we don’t love her for who she is…?”

“I…” Doug’s eyes look about as uncertain as she feels. 

“I don’t,” Greg says after a moment. “Maybe she felt that way once—I dunno—but I’ve gotten to know Connie. And I know what it means to her that you’re letting her do this even though you weren’t thrilled about it, and especially that you came to see her off.”

“Of course we did!” Priyanka exclaims. “What kind of parents would we be if we hadn’t?!" 

If they'd let their daughter travel to an alien world, without hugging her first, or reminding her to be safe… The thought makes her shudder for a second time.

“You’d be surprised. _My_ parents…” He shakes his head. “Well, the point is, you _listened_ to Connie when you found out what she was doing. And you all figured stuff out _together_ , even if it meant you had to change. She knows you love her.”

Priyanka doesn’t know what to say to that. And perhaps this, too, is a sign of how much she’s changed in the past year, that, rather than scoffing, she heeds the words of a man like this one, who lives in a van and works at a car wash. Once, that would have been another surreal element to add to the argument that she’s dreaming; now, she knows that there is nothing here more real than the love that Greg Universe feels for his son and that his son, in turn, feels for him. And in this moment, that is precisely the type of person from whom she needs assurance. 

“Anyway,” Greg stretches his arms over his head, gripping his left elbow with his right hand. “These past few days have been crazy, and I’m starving. Can I buy you guys some dinner or something?”

She glances at Doug, and knows from a look that they’re agreed in this. 

“That would be lovely,” she says. “Thank you.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed! Please consider leaving a review!


End file.
